Plein Air

I’ve had a week off and have been painting outside, at my mom’s house
out in the country near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The investment
which has made this possible is called a pochade box which is
essentially a small portable easel which fits on a tripod. The one I
got is called the Prochade by Artwork Essentials. So far I’m pretty
happy with it, and slightly amazed and bemused at how fun it is to
use.

I’ve had a lot of resistance to painting outside over the years. The
few times I’ve done it have been enjoyable, but something about the
bugs, the cold, the heat, the sun, the rain, the lightning, the
tornadoes, the spectators, earthquakes, muggers, cosmic rays, etc. has
kept me from doing much of it. And my passion has always been
surrealism, fantasy & sci fi, nudes, painting from imagination, the
darker architecture of private spaces. Many of my favorite artists
also work this way, and I don’t think I met anyone in art school who
painted from life outdoors (or who admitted to doing so) … painting
outside seemed almost corny, a Sunday painter’s habit.

Lately, however, I’ve been interested in getting out there and working
from nature. Possibly some of that interest is thanks to blogs like
James Gurney’s. Gurney interests me because he is an artist of the
fantastic (see his Sci Fi book covers or the Dinotopia series), but is
also an avid plein-air painter, which very much informs his fantastic
work. (He even goes so far as to build sculptures or ‘maquettes’ of
his characters so as to be able to see and paint the real, natural
light on them.)

I’m also interested in making some slower, visual contact with the
real world, and perhaps ever so slightly less interested in aesthetic
navel-gazing (though I’m still very interested in painting imaginary
worlds).

Usually I paint sitting down at my easel in the studio, with a
computer, music, food, etc. all close at hand. I never liked painting
standing up in the studio; but standing up alone outside for a few
hours is surprisingly easy and pleasant. Also it is really nice to be
away from computers for awhile (an iPod can be nice while painting
outside, though being in the actual space with the crickets and the
wind is part of the experience too).

The French term for painting outdoors is “en plein air” — which could
be re-translated as “in the full air”. There is something pleasant and
“airy” about just choosing a subject and painting it alla prima — no
preliminary sketches, no layers of glazes, photo transfers, reference
materials, SketchUp studies or traumatic mid-stream adjustments of
content — just walk up to the easel and make a painting! I finished
three paintings this week… my rate in the studio is sometimes less
than three per year. Plus the paintings themselves are more
lightweight — things I could just destroy or give away as gifts rather
than agonize for months about whether they’re done, where to show
them, how much to charge for them, etc.

I love photography and take lots of photographs in addition to the
studio paintings. Painting with the pochade box combines some of the
things I love about both art forms — you scout your terrain and frame
your image (à la photography) and then bring all your gestural and
color sensibilities to the material. You just do it, like clicking the
shutter, except it takes a couple of hours rather than a couple of
milliseconds. In the end your ‘shot’ is juicy, oily, full of bugs,
and, maybe, ready to hang on a friend’s wall for awhile. Nice and
easy!